SACO INVEST: 05/12/2010

sábado, 11 de dezembro de 2010

XBOOT, Create MultiBoot ISOs On Disk And USB

XBOOT, Create MultiBoot ISOs On Disk And USB: "

Many developers provide ISO images of their release for free download, especially in the antivirus and security niche but also in utility and Linux. An antivirus ISO image can for instance be used to scan a PC by booting from that burned disk which may be the only possible way depending on the state of infection of the PC.

A problem that some users face is that there does not seem to be a way to combine multiple ISO images on an optical disk (like a CD or DVD) or USB device.

That’s why Xboot has been created by its developer. The free application can combine multiple ISO images into one multiboot disk or USB device.

multiboot iso usb

ISO images can be dragged and dropped into the main program interface. Each ISO is listed with its name, size, a category, file path and other information. The program will automatically calculate the combined file size and display it as the total size in the same program window. That’s handy to keep below the maximum storage space of CDs, DVDs or USB sticks.

An option to calculate checksums is provided which may come in handy to verify the integrity of an ISO image. ISO images can be added via the file menu as well which opens a file browser to select ISO images from connected storage devices.

available iso images

The file menu contains a listing of supported ISO download locations from popular software developers. They do however link to the download page only from where the disk images have to be downloaded separately. An option to download them directly in the program would be a comfortable addition.

A click on Create ISO or Create USB creates the the multiboot ISO image or USB device. Any ISO image created this way needs to be burned to disk before it can be used.

Xboot is a helpful tool to add multiple ISO images to one multiboot ISO image or USB device. The creation process is easy to complete, only the download of the ISO images (if that is needed) is not comfortable enough. Xboot is compatible with 32-bit or 64-bit editions of Windows. The free software requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 on the computer system.

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Post tags: iso image, multiboot, multiboot iso, multiboot usb, windows software, xboot

Ranking Programming Languages by Size of Community and Number of Projects

Ranking Programming Languages by Size of Community and Number of Projects: "

Drew Conway and John Myles White of the website Dataists decided to try ranking programming languages using a new system: the size of the community and the number of projects. In Conway's blog post about the results, he admits that there's no perfect way to find data about either measure. He and Myles settled on using the number of questions in StackOverflow as a measure of the community and the number of projects in Github as a measure of the number of projects.

Notably, the ranks from the two measures were highly correlated. There were some strange outliers - Delphi had far more questions than projects, and Viml had far more projects than questions. And one commenter noted that JavaScript was probably overweighted because many projects in Github use JavaScript but aren't really JavaScript projects. The data is interesting none-the-less. Conway speculates that StackOverflow questions may actually indicate opacity of a language and not community.

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Scatter plot of programming language rankings

In addition to being correlated, the results were tiered:

Tier One: C#, Java, PHP, C++, Objective C, JavaScript, Python, C, Ruby, Perl and Shell

Tier Two: Scala, Actionscript, Haskell,

Tier Three: R, Assembly, Visual Basic, Coldfusion, F##, Groovy, ASP, Clojure, Erlang, Lua, Scheme, Common List, Emacs Lisp

Tier Four: D, Fortran, OCaml, Tcl, Go, Smalltalk, Viml

Tier Five: IO, Racket, VHDL, Verilog, Haxe, Objective-J, Boo, Vala, Coffeescript, Supercollider, Ada, Self, Arc, Eiffel, Factor, Nu, Sclang, PureData, Duby, ooc

Discuss

Tic-Tac-Toe

Tic-Tac-Toe: " The only winning move is to play, perfectly, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake.

quinta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2010

Read it loud

Read it loud: "

Submitted by: thennek72

Posted at: 2010-12-09 00:45:18

See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/56914

4 (More) Tools for Teaching Kids to Code

4 (More) Tools for Teaching Kids to Code: "

This week is National Computer Education Week, aimed at recognizing the crucial role of computing in today's world and at supporting efforts to boost computer science education at all levels. The event purposefully coincides with Grace Hopper's birthday tomorrow. But it also happens to come the same week that the Program for International Student Assessment has released its data about student performance and finds that, compared to others worldwide, U.S. students get a C for math and science.

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According to ACM and CSTA, two organizations that address computer science education, very few states recognize computer science as a core graduation requirement, and states' curriculum standards focus on computing skills rather than computing concepts. (You can see an interactive map of how the different states compare).

We wrote a story earlier this fall with 4 suggestions for some of our favorite programming tools aimed at kids. And that list is worth repeating: the graphical programming language Scratch, the programmable robotics of Lego Mindstorms, the 3D programming environment Alice, and the Android App Inventor.

But in the spirit of National Computer Education Week and the hopes that we can encourage more kids not just to use technology but to build technology, here's a list of 4 more:

Kodu

A product of Microsoft FUSE Labs, Kodu is a visual programming language made especially for creating games. Kodu's language is entirely icon-based and is fairly easy to learn. By getting children to think about 'if/then' statements, Kudo helps teach important programming concepts of actions and conditions. Kodu works on PC and XBox 360.

Small Basic

Another Microsoft project, Small Basic is a beginning programming language - a variant of BASIC, but based on the .NET platform. Small Basic is designed for students between the ages of 10 and 16 and consists of the language, the programming environment, and libraries. There are a number of resources available for working with Small Basic at TeachingKidsProgramming.org.

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform with both a hardware and software component. Arduino's hardware is programmed with a language similar to C++, and although it may not be the easiest of entry points for learning programming, there's something about building things that actually move that can be pretty compelling. Projects that use Arduino to introduce children to programming include a modification of Scratch to support simple programming on the Arduino hardware.

Squeak

Squeak is an implementation of Smalltalk, an object-oriented programming language. The latter was designed in the 1970s in part as an educational tool for teaching programming. Squeak may be best known as part of the Children's Machine, part of the One Laptop Per Children initiative. Squeak is closely related with Objective-C, and Smalltalk and Squeak have both been influential on the development of other languages.

What other languages or platforms would you recommend for budding computer programmers? Python anyone? Let us know your experiences teaching kids to code in the comments.

Discuss

quarta-feira, 8 de dezembro de 2010

10 Of The Best Free Audiobooks From BooksShouldBeFree That You Should Listen To

10 Of The Best Free Audiobooks From BooksShouldBeFree That You Should Listen To: "

So you’re a busy person. You work hard, look after a family and never seem to have time to read all those books you really want to read. What are you to do? Listen to free audiobooks while you commute, that’s what. The internet is full of free audiobooks – all you need to do is find them.

Audiobooks are great for people who find themselves with moments where they’re awake, but have other things they need to do with their hands. Driving, cooking, nursing or knitting are all things people can normally do at the same time as listening to something. Listening to audiobooks is a great way to multitask during those times of day and add a little culture.

Thanks to public domain archives like Project Gutenberg and LibriVox, there’s plenty of great audiobooks available free to download. I’m personally a big fan of browsing for free audiobooks using BooksShouldBeFree because I like the interface, extra links, genre search, top 100 list and related book suggestions.

free audiobooks

A quick look at the main page will show you all the obvious popular classics like Beowulf, The Iliad, Alice in Wonderland, Doctor Dolittle, Grimm’s Fairytales, King Lear and works by authors such as Tolstoy, Jane Austen and Jules Verne. This is a good start.

Are you not sure which free audiobooks to listen to? Well that’s where this list comes in. Here’s a selection of not-so-obvious audiobooks which are widely regarded as great books and are available free via BooksShouldBeFree.

1. War Of The Worlds – H.G. Wells

There’s a good reason this classic science fiction work was worked into music, film and popular culture — because it’s great! Get back to roots by listening to the original, unaltered 1890′s story. Also see the Invisible Man.

download free audiobooks

2. Night And Day – Virginia Woolf

Slip into the start of the 20th century with Night and Day. This is a book for Jane Austen lovers who need a little twist. Covering many similar themes to Austen, Woolf provides social commentary with a little humour.

download free audiobooks

3. Walden, or Life In The Woods – Henry David Thoreau

Ostensibly, this is a book about survival, adventure and self-reliance. Ultimately though, Walden is also about finding your own path and breaking free from expectations. Great listening for the commuter with big dreams!

download free audiobooks

4. Something Fresh: A Blandings Story – P.G. Wodehouse

Wodehouse is a comic genius who was loved by Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and many more. “Something Fresh” is one of Wodehouse’s most popular texts, so it is likely to be appreciated by all comedy lovers.

free online audiobooks

5. The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

If you’re getting into the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series, now is the time to re-visit the original. Get a feel for the original Sherlock Holmes character in order to fully appreciate the re-make.

free online audiobooks

6. Erewhon – Samuel Butler

Here’s a taste of Victorian fantasy with a touch of dystopia. The book uses this front to showcase hypocrisy in Victorian ideals.

free online audiobooks

7. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

The character of Emma Bovary will resonate well with all the house-bound parents, people living in rural areas, travel-hungry nomads and people who run up a little too much credit at times. Live vicariously through her mistakes instead of making your own.

8. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude To A Philosophy of the Future – Friedrich Nietzsche

Get stuck into some classic philosophy with Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche used this novel to enlighten readers about their moral complacency and to guide them away from the herd mentality. This could be just the book to read for someone stuck in the rat race. If you’re into philosophy, see also Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Pascal’s Pensées.

9. Candide – Voltaire

Voltaire’s Candide is the perfect book for people sick of cheery optimism. Voltaire wanted to get rid of the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds: sometimes life is pretty bleak. The message is delivered amidst a story of human resilience and dark humour.

10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer’s story is a joy to all who love the little things in life and want to live every moment to the fullest. Mark Twain wrote about kids in an attempt to capture that spirit and remind adults of those times and adventures. Also see Huckleberry Finn.

free audiobooks